Hawaiian unifier and king, born on Kohala, District of Hawaii, USA (formerly the Sandwich Is). Following the death of the chief of Hawaii, his uncle Kalaniopu'u (1782), Kamehameha conquered the island. After other victories on Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and the other islands, he formed the Kingdom of Hawaii by 1810. He stimulated Hawaiian trade, but kept intact the customs and the religion of his people. Hawaii placed his statue in the US Capitol.
| King Kamehameha | |
|---|---|
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Kamehameha the Great established his dynasty in 1810 upon unifying the islands of Hawaiʻi to become the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. |
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| Birth name | Paiʻea |
| Reign | 1810-1819 |
| Successor | Kamehameha II |
| Predecessor | Established monarchy |
| Consort | Keopuolani, Ka'ahumanu |
| Born | circa 1758 |
| Died | 1819 |
Kamehameha I, also known as Kamehameha the Great (c. Kamehameha is most noted for his vehement defense of traditional Hawaiian values and the kapu system of law and religion.
In 1871, Kamehameha V decreed a holiday, Kamehameha Day, in Kamehameha I's honor. Halley's comet was visible from Hawaiʻi in 1758, and it is therefore assumed that Kamehameha was born shortly after its appearance.
Kamehameha's birth is shrouded in legend. Kamehameha's father, Keoua, was the grandson of Keaweikekahialiʻiokamoku, who had once ruled a large portion of the island of Hawaiʻi.
When Kamehameha was born, Alapaʻi ordered the child killed. Kekuhaupiʻo remained a faithful and trusted adivsor to Kamehameha until the accidental death of the loyal kahu during a sham battle. Kalaniʻopuʻu, Alapaʻi's great-nephew, challenged his rule, and was backed by his nephew Kamehameha.
In 1779, Kamehameha again traveled with Kalaniʻopuʻu to Kealakekua Bay.
Raised in the royal court of his uncle, Kamehameha achieved prominence in 1782, upon Kalaniʻopuʻu's death. While the kingship was inherited by Kalaniʻopuʻu's son Kiwalaʻo, Kamehameha was given a prominent religious position, guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kukaʻilimoku, as well as the district of Waipiʻo. Nevertheless, there was already bad blood between the two cousins, caused when Kamehameha presented a slain aliʻi's body to the gods instead of Kiwalaʻo, and when a group of chiefs from the Kona district offered Kamehameha the kingship instead of Kiwalaʻo, he accepted eagerly. Kiwalaʻo was soon defeated in the battle of Mokuʻohai, and Kamehameha took control of the districts of Kohala, Kona, and Hamakua on Hawaiʻi, but Kiwalaʻo's brother Keouakuʻahuʻula.
Kamehameha then moved against the district of Puna in 1790 deposing its chief Keawemaʻuhili. Keoua, exiled to his home of Kaʻū, took advantage of Kamehameha's absence and led an uprising. When Kamehameha returned with his army to put down the rebellion, Keoua fled past the volcano, which erupted and killed nearly a third of his warriors from poisonous gas.
Questioning a kahuna on how best to go about securing the rest of the island., Kamehameha resolved to construct a heiau to Kukaʻilimoku, as well as lay an aliʻi's body on it.
When the temple was completed the following, Kamehameha invited Keoua to meet with him. With Keoua dead, and his supporters captured or slain, Kamehameha became aliʻi nui of all Hawaiʻi.
Kamehameha's ambition
Kamehameha's dreams included far more than the island of Hawaiʻi; Two westerners who were resident on Hawaiʻi, Isaac Davis and John Young, trained Kamehameha's troops in use of the firearms.
With his new weapons, Kamehameha felt confident enough to move on the neighboring islands of Maui and Oʻahu, already weakened by a war of succession that broke out between King Kahekili's sons. Kamehameha may or may not have known that his rival, Kalanikupule, also possessed firearms, and was planning a move against Kamehameha when the aliʻi nui of Hawaiʻi invaded the western islands.
In 1795, Kamehameha set sail with an armada of 1,200 war canoes and 10,000 soldiers - an incredible number for an island chain whose population had never exceeded 300,000. Kamehameha quickly secured the lightly defended islands of Maui and Molokaʻi, and moved on the island of Oʻahu, landing his troops at Waiʻalae and Waikīkī. What Kamehameha did not know was that one of his commanders, a high-ranking aliʻi named Kaʻiana, had defected to Kalanikupule.
When Kamehameha moved on the Pali, his troops took heavy fire from the cannon.
Kamehameha was now aliʻi nui of all of Hawaiʻi east of Oʻahu, but the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau continually eluded him. When he attempted to invade the islands in 1796, his governor on Hawaiʻi, Namakeha, led a rebellion against his rule, and Kamehameha was forced to return. In 1803 he tried again, but this time disease broke out among his warriors, and Kamehameha himself fell ill, though he later recovered. During this time, Kamehameha was amassing the largest armada Hawaiʻi had ever seen - foreign-built schooners and massive war canoes, armed with cannon and carrying his vast army. Kaumualiʻi, aliʻi nui of Kauaʻi, watched as Kamehameha built up his invading force and decided he would have a better chance in negotiation than battle.
In 1810, Kaumualiʻi became a vassal of Kamehameha, who therefore emerged as the sole sovereign of the island chain of Hawaiʻi.
The first King of Hawaiʻi
As king, Kamehameha took several steps to ensure that the islands remained a united realm even after his death. Kamehameha did not allow non-Hawaiians to own land;
In fact, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi that Kamehameha established retained its independence, except for a five-month British occupation in 1843, until it was annexed by the United States in 1898.
Kamehameha also instituted the Mamalahoe, or "law of the splintered paddle". Its origins derived from before the unification of the Island of Hawaiʻi, in 1782, when Kamehameha, during a raid, caught his foot in a rock. A local fisherman, fearful for his family, hit Kamehameha hard on the head with a paddle, which splintered. Kamehameha was stunned and left for dead, allowing the fisherman and his companion to escape. Twelve years later, the same fisherman was brought before Kamehameha for punishment. King Kamehameha instead blamed himself for attacking innocent people, gave the fisherman gifts of land and set him free.
Although he ended human sacrifice, Kamehameha was to the last a follower of the Hawaiian religion and Hawaiian traditions (such as Lua).
When Kamehameha died in 1819, his body was hidden by his trusted friend, Hoapili. A statue of Kamehameha represents Hawaii in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.
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